C. M. Raveendran, additional private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, leaving the Enforcement Directorate office in Kochi at 8 PM on Tuesday after subjecting himself to questioning by the agency in the LIFE Mission Wadakkancherry bribery case.
| Photo Credit: R. K. NITHIN
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) continued questioning C. M. Raveendran, Additional Private Secretary to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, for the second day today in connection with the money-laundering case booked in relation to the alleged commission paid for the LIFE Mission housing project of the government at Wadakkanchery, Thrissur.
Also read |ED questions C.M. Raveendran for nine hours
The agency had grilled him for over nine hours on Tuesday. Mr. Raveendran had reached the office of the agency here around 8 a.m on Wednesday. He was asked to turn up for the second consecutive day as the investigating team wanted to gather more information from him on the alleged pay-off in awarding the contract for the LIFE Mission project. The agency had booked a case against the accused for money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Mr. Raveendran had failed to turn up before the agency on February 27 for interrogation, stating that the State Assembly was in session. The agency had issued another summons on March 1 asking him to appear before it on March 7. The ED had earlier questioned him in connection with the money-laundering case booked following the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.
The investigation agency had earlier arrested M. Sivasankar, the former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in connection with the case. Mr. Sivasankar is currently in judicial custody.
The case, according to the investigating agency, is that a huge amount was siphoned off by the accused as commission from the funds released by an overseas organisation for the housing project. The agency contended that the money found in the bank locker of Swapna Suresh, another accused in the money-laundering case booked earlier, was part of the commission the accused had received.
